To everyone else, the world had changed very little. Most were back in their homes, mentally reviewing where they left off on their daily routines. The half-folded laundry was attended to and the now-cold meals were reheated. The grocery store was operating smoothly once more and the karaage stand was quickly being rebuilt by the on-call construction site. Aside from the hour-long delay, their lives had returned to normal.

But for the two heroes staring at each other from across the wreckage, time seemed to stand still. The string was waving back and forth in the expanse between them, glinting in the sunlight and making Bakugo wonder if it was all a trick of his eyes. He almost had himself convinced until he caught Uraraka's quizzical eyebrows- Nope, she was definitely seeing this too.

Still needing tangible proof, Bakugo skimmed the length with his left hand. To his surprise, there were slightly raised ridges along the impossibly thin thread from multiple strands woven together to create a strong cord. He pulled it taut and watched it lift Uraraka's hand in the air and before he could blink, she yanked it right back in a huff.

"Ah!" She let out a too-late warning to a passing constructor trying to clear the debris, but it was clearly unnecessary as he passed through the string like it wasn't there. In fact, no one else seemed to notice there was anything different at all.

Damn, what was that crazy lady thinking, giving him something like this?

Crunching and further pulverizing the rubble with his boots, Bakugo walked forward to meet Uraraka in the middle. The string seemed to shrink in length as they neared one another, automatically adjusting for distance.

"Bakugo, do you know anything about this?" She held up her hand as if he needed any clarification for what she was referring to.

"An old lady did it,"

"... I'm gonna need a little more than that."

Bakugo pinched the bridge of his nose like he couldn't believe she wasn't keeping up with his already provided explanation. "The old bat grabbed my hand and told me she was giving me a gift or some shit, but I guess she activated her quirk on me and made whatever this is. It didn't show up until just now, though."

"Hmmm," Uraraka rolled the cord between her fingers and then picked at the knot. "It doesn't look like it'll come off easily. If we don't see it posing an immediate danger to us, I don't think we should try to mess with it too much. What if something bad happens once we break it?"

"And who knows if scissors will even do a thing to it. You saw what happened with that guy," He jerked his head towards the oblivious construction worker who walked through earlier. Uraraka nodded her head, deep in thought.

"Maybe we can find her and just ask?" She asked hesitantly, knowing it was a naive suggestion. He confirmed her suspicions with a grim shake of his head.

"I don't think it'd be a good idea to go looking after her."

"Alright. Then I guess that leaves the quirk registry. Maybe we can find out some helpful information about her or what this might be in the system," Bakugo grunted in agreement. "But first…" A mischievous grin blossomed on her face that put Bakugo on edge. What could be more important than figuring out whatever the hell this was?

"First, we get oden as a congratulations to me! And to you, of course, for doing such a great job asking for help!" She laughed loudly and insisted vehemently it wasn't aimed at him, even though there was no way for him to mistake it as anything else. Blood rushed to his face in teetering rage. Before he could cross over and yell at her in front of all of the workers, she patted his chest with a smile, a placating gesture, and confirmed their plans. "Nabemono at 7, right?"

"And don't be la-"

"Don't be late. Yeah, yeah, I know." She teased. "Have some faith in me!"

"You're late all the time!"

"We'll be in and out with plenty of time for you to get home for your beauty sleep, don't worry!"

"You little shit!" She only laughed in response and waved as she walked away. When she pressed all 10 fingers together and launched into the air to return to her precinct, the red string trailed after like a pathway pointing Bakugo straight in her direction.

Bakugo wasn't sure he could take much more of this.

"Ne, ne, Bakugo. What do you usually order? Daikon is a must, of course," He could feel a series of irritated twitches coming on as she read through the menu. "My mom makes the best satsuma-age with shrimp. Do you know what they use here? Because I haven't had some in forever, but what if it doesn't hit the spot? Hmmm. The chikuwabu looks good too- have you tried it before? Maybe I'll get a little of that... Ooh! You can even add shirataki noodles? Those would go well with-"

"Hey, you!" A passing waitress jumped in surprise at the sudden bark from Bakugo.

"H-hai!"

"We'll take 2 order of extra spicy sausage maki with daikon and a soft-boiled tamago. One with extra sliced peppers and one with a side of shirataki. You gonna get anything else?" He glared at Uraraka, daring her to try and ask for more time.

"And one kinchaku, please" she added with a pout.

"Of course you would get mochi in your soup," Bakugo rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that too," he confirmed with the frazzled waitress.

"Hai!" She scribbled the last of their order onto her notepad and hurried to the kitchen to place their order.

"I'm gonna need some peach juice to cut through the spice, you know."

"You can pay for that yourself. I ain't spending money on any of that shit." He crossed his arms and stared her down. She only laughed gently to herself and flagged down another waitress to order a couple of cartons of the fruity, cooling drink.

"You sure you don't want any?" Uraraka asked, lifting the cup of pale yellow juice towards him. He gave no answer other than a slight quirk of eyebrow in disbelief at such a question. "Alright. More for me, then," She shrugged and took a small sip.

"So," she started. "Any new discoveries?" Bakugo knew what she was referring to right away. The string remained securely wrapped around his thumb and he knew that if he were to follow the string's path with his eyes, it would lead to Uraraka's left pinky.

It followed him everywhere he went and distracted him enough to extend his already 10-hour work day. His normal walk to the agency, fulfilling protocol by recording his experience of the incident, was all accompanied by the nagging feeling of knowing he had somehow been tagged by a crazy old lady. The string seemed to have no limit. It stretched beyond his line of sight, disappearing behind walls and traversing miles to where he presumed Uraraka was working.

When the string started to move in the direction of his neighborhood, he knew that even Uraraka had beaten him to the restaurant thanks to his distracted state. Her teasing only ceased when they entered the tiny sit-in and the employees greeted them, never one to be rude.

"Unless you've been completely still all afternoon, it looks like you have to pull at it intentionally for me to feel it," Bakugo shared his thoughts.

"I didn't feel anything either," she confirmed. "But maybe that's a proximity thing? I mean, we don't really know how far it can stretch besides a couple cities away."

"We don't really know anything about it at all. I took a quick look at the registered quirk users in my patrol area, but didn't see the old hag in there," He continued, ignoring Uraraka's chastisement at how he referred to the elder. "So I'm gonna head up to City Hall tomorrow morning before my shift and see if I can find her there."

"I'll go with you. If she doesn't live in your area, it must not be a coincidence that she found you and put this string on you. And me, by extension. I can't imagine that spells out good news."

"How many times do I have to tell you, Cheeks? I don't need your help."

"So then why are you treating me to this delicious food?" The place had killer timing, placing their steaming hot bowls of oden down on the table. "Itadakimasu!" Uraraka chirped politely before blowing on her spoonful of food and taking a big bite.

"Whatever. I'm gonna be at City Hall right when they open at 6:30. It's not my business whether you're there or not."

"6:30 in the morning?!" Bakugo smirked at how flustered she was at both the spice and the thought of working that early in the morning. He remembered all the weekends at the dorms when Uraraka wouldn't come out to the common area until noon, and even then, it would be because she was lured out of her room in her pajamas by the thought of lunch.

"Only if you want to keep up with me," He quipped while adding copious amounts of black pepper to his already spiced meal. He could feel the soup warming his body from the first bite. Looking up at the weirdly silent woman across the table from him, he held back a grin as she chugged down peach juice and glared at his challenge.

"I'll see you right at 6:30!" She finally gasped out and took another bit of her incredibly delicious and spicy oden, setting off another round of gulping down peach juice.

At that, he couldn't help but bark out a laugh.

Realizing they were starting to gain the attention of other customers, and even some passersbys, the two rookie heroes quickly finished their soups, slurping noodles, crunching on peppers, and drinking every last drop of broth.

"That was sooooo good!" Rubbing her belly in content, Uraraka stood up from her chair. She rummaged through her bag to grab her wallet and pay for the juice at the stand by the door.

"Obviously. You think I would go out and pay for shit food? Hell no." The restaurant employee squeaked as she accepted Bakugo's card to swipe.

"I guess not. Still, it was sooo- Wait, what are you doing?"

"Paying? What else would I be doing?" Bakugo took back his card and signed the receipt without looking Uraraka in the eye.

"I thought I was supposed to pay for the juice?" She trailed after Bakugo out of the restaurant, not forgetting to say a quick 'thank you' to the flustered employee.

"Deal's a deal. I wasn't gonna watch you waste the food and not finish it because you're too much of a wimp for the spice."

"Hey!" Uraraka pouted as she pulled up her scarf to hide her face. She was starting to get recognized on the streets more frequently lately. Bakugo did the same, also putting up his hood to cover his spiky blond hair. "I can pay for my own, you know. If this weren't a deal we had already agreed on, I would've taken care of it."

He rolled his eyes, the only part of his face she could now see. "After all that talk about how I need to accept help… You won our agreement fairly, I owed you oden," He shrugged his shoulders and Uraraka could tell it bothered him to think he would 'owe' someone anything. "Besides, everyone knows I don't pay just to be nice."

Uraraka's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Bakugo… I can't believe you're such a gentleman!"

"I just said I don't do that shit, woman! Do you not listen to a single word I say?"

She giggled in amusement. "Well, then, thanks. I'll see you tomorrow morning." Bakugo couldn't see her lips turn up in a smile, but he didn't need to with the way her eyes curved into half moons. Rather than a full response, Bakugo grunted in acknowledgement. It seemed to be enough for Uraraka because at that, she nodded and turned to walk towards the subway.

Bakugo chose this oden restaurant because it was close to his place and he knew it was good, but he wondered if he should've chosen a different place closer to Uraraka's place.

Wait, why would he care about that? She can more than take care of herself. It's not like she's incapable of taking the subway home safely. Why did that matter to him? Shaking off the intrusive thoughts, Bakugo shoved his hands in his pocket and made his way home.

When the string started to move sideways, Bakugo figured she must be on the subway now, crossing the 15 miles that separated their homes much faster than if she were on foot, or even floating. He wondered if the existence of this string was putting strange thoughts in his head. Was it tying Uraraka to him and forcing him to care about things like whether she enjoyed the food, if she had arrived home, and what kind of mood she might be in so early in the morning tomorrow?

Bakugo couldn't accept that these thoughts had developed on their own, so he attributed them to the string. Yeah, it had to be because of the weird effects of that old lady's quirk. So when he stepped inside his apartment and couldn't stop looking at the red thread to check and see if it were still moving, he didn't take it as a sign to reflect on why he felt like he couldn't go to bed until it had stilled.

By the time he had finished prepping the next morning's breakfast, the string had stopped moving. Finally feeling at peace, Bakugo changed into more comfortable clothes and got ready for bed. Just like Uraraka had promised, he laid down on top of his comforter promptly at 9:30, like every other night.

Finally winding down after the craziness of the day, he closed his eyes and welcomed sleep.

Tugging.

The string was tugging on his thumb, but it might as well have been wrenching his heart out of his chest.

Why was Uraraka pulling at the string? Has something happened? If she were calling out to him for help, it must be serious. He knew he should have trusted his instincts and not gotten so comfortable. Bakugo jumped out of bed and scrambled to find more appropriate pants for leaving the apartment. He had just grabbed his phone and was about to dash out of his place when it lit up with a text message.

Round-face: Just wanted to see if I could pull at it from this far away. Did you feel it?

Bakugo could feel his face turn red from embarrassment. He was about to… What? Run across 3 cities in his muscle shirt? Call up 4-eyes, who lives closest to Uraraka, to check on her? He didn't even have a plan. What he did know was he was going to hunt down that old lady and demand she puts his brain back to normal.

Slamming the apartment door shut behind him, he wasn't sure whether to curse or thank Kirishima for giving Uraraka his number last year for the surprise birthday celebration. She was the only one who was simultaneously willing and plausible enough to district Bakugo without causing suspicion while his "squad" decorated the common area for the celebration. Since then, they hadn't texted or called much apart from the occasional congratulatory messages, and teases, regarding his presence on the news. She had a big laugh about him calling a reporter a "bean sprout" for their long body and tiny head.

He stepped out of his pants and climbed back into bed, exhausted from the sudden loss of adrenaline. Before letting sleep take over again, he made sure to yank his thumb. Her reply came almost immediately.

Round-face: Got it! Thanks!

Bakugo found himself incredibly annoyed at the thumbs up emoji she tacked on the end of her message. It was like she put it there on purpose to taunt him for the power she now held over him. Stupid Uraraka. Stupid, stupid string.

He fell asleep that night distinctly aware of a foreign feeling of longing gnawing away at him.